When the 2026 Oscar nominations were announced last week, Jacob Elordi made the list for his incredible performance as The Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. While we wait to learn who will win in the Best Supporting Actor category and so forth during the 98th Academy Awards in March, Elordi shared the sweet way the late Heath Ledger inspired him to aspire to the Hollywood stars.
Jacob Elordi is a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (which made it at No. 2 in our best movies of the 2000s list) frequently citing the movie as a formative experience in his life and a “masterpiece.” So when he turned up on Jimmy Kimmel Live following the Oscar milestone, he had this to say about the honor:
You know, strangely you're supposed to say that doesn't mean anything and art is subjective and all these things, but it really was a dream of mine, particularly because of Heath Ledger. He sort of showed me that it was possible.
A lot of Hollywood actors like to brush off the Academy Awards as no big deal, but Jacob Elordi got honest about his enthusiasm for the honor on the late night talk show. As he continued:
And, a fun fact is actually I remember when I first started my career I was kind of obnoxious and I thought I was like it's not going to happen by 28, and it's going to take much longer. And I'm 28 years old and I got nominated 18 years to the day after he passed. So, I'd like to take this to say thank you to Heath Ledger and for that inspiration. It really, really means the world to me.
Whoa, that’s pretty wild! It’s true. Heath Ledger died at the age of 28 years old on January 22, 2008, and Jacob Elordi got nominated for Frankenstein on January 22 of this year. Ledger famously was nominated posthumously in the same category as Elordi for his role of The Joker in The Dark Knight on the one-year anniversary of his death, January 22, 2009, before earning the award during the ceremony a month later.
Ledger is clearly a hero of Elordi’s, so for them to have a distinct connection now must be pretty special. Plus, the roles that got them Oscar nominations and their career trajectories share some similar threads as well. Sadly, in Ledger’s case, his death was due to an accidental drug overdose of prescription medication.
Both of them earned their Oscar nominations in roles they did before they were 30, which is something that’s only happened a handful of times over the years. It required them to transform with the distinct work from their movie’s hair & makeup team, and both roles showed them transitioning out of teen heartthrob roles to more serious and layered genre roles. Elordi’s transformation into The Creature has earned him flirty reactions and a funny story from Oscar Isaac about the first time he saw him in the role.
Jacob Elordi is nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category alongside Benecio del Toro and Sean Penn for One Battle After Another, Delroy Lindo for Sinners, and Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value. The 98th Oscars are on the 2026 TV schedule to happen on Sunday, March 15. You’ll be able to watch the show on ABC or with a Hulu subscription.
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